Write smart descriptions

Write searchable descriptions

Descriptions can convey valuable information that helps viewers find your videos in search results and understand what they’ll be watching. Well-written descriptions with the right keywords can boost views and watch time because they help your video show up in search results.

Possible actions you can take:

Give an overview of your video using natural language -- not just a stream of keywords.

Put the most important keywords toward the beginning of your description.

Identify 1-2 main words that describe your video and feature them prominently in both your description and title.

See it in action

The phrase “morning yoga” (underlined in red) appears in this video’s title and description, which increases the likelihood that YouTube could surface the video in search results.

Keywords can help viewers find your videos

Searching for the keywords “morning yoga” returns this same video in the #1 slot of YouTube search results.

Maximize your description

The description field is incredibly useful for helping viewers find, learn about, and decide if they’d like to watch your videos. You can think about the description as two parts -- what viewers see before they click “Show more” and what they see after. Consider prioritizing the first few lines of your description to describe your video because it’s what viewers will see first. You can add other key information about your channel, metadata, and even links to social networks or your website below that so that viewers can learn more. You can even create a default description that autopopulates key channel information in all of your videos upon upload.

Possible actions you can take:

Be sure each video has a unique description; this makes it easier to find through search, and helps it stand out from similar videos.

Use the first few lines of text to explain what the video’s about using search-friendly keywords and natural language.

Use the rest of the text (what shows up once they click “Show more”) for extra information like what your channel’s about, social links, etc.

Tips

See it in action

Everything above “Show more”

The area outlined in blue above “Show more” can be seen in search results, on the watch page, and when your video appears on user’s feeds. It’s good to include keywords here that describe what your video is about. Viewers must click “Show more” to see the rest of the description (outlined in green) below.

Extra information for viewers who click

The full content of your description only appears when “Show more” is clicked. In the example above you can see that Blogilates writes a unique description for every video, then uses the default description (which appears below the first three lines) to consistently display the same information across all videos.

Create descriptions viewers can use

The description field can only display text, but it doesn’t have to be a boring experience. You can add interactive features that could help increase views, highlight collaborations, and grow your subscriber base.

Possible actions you can take:

Include creator credits to highlight the contributions of your collaborators. Make a habit of linking back to creators you work with, and make sure they credit you, too.

Use time stamps to help viewers skip to important parts of longer videos.

See it in action

Linking to time stamps in the description can help you guide viewers to the most important moments of your video.

Measure effectiveness

Find out how your description looks on different pages and devices, along with how it performs in YouTube Analytics, to learn if it’s attracting viewers.

Possible actions you can take:

Preview the description in YouTube search, on the video’s watch page, and on various mobile devices to make sure the most important information is visible.

Help your video show up in YouTube search. Analytics can tell you what keywords lead people to your video. If any major or important themes of your video don't appear in your search report, it may be because you never added those words in your description. Pretend you're searching for your video: what would you type into the search bar? Those words should be in the description.

See it in action

Which keywords help viewers find your videos?

Check the YouTube Search report (under Traffic sources) to see which keywords people use to find your videos. Are any important keywords missing from your videos?

See how your description looks to viewers

A good practice is to check how your description appears in important places like YouTube search, watch page, mobile devices, etc., to make sure the most important information displays as intended.

Steps to set up video descriptions on YouTube

Every time you upload a new video to your channel, you’ll be prompted to write a description.The more you make your video stand out using tools like the description field, the better chance it has of succeeding on YouTube. It’s also easy to update video descriptions should you decide to add or remove information later on.

Possible actions you can take:

Fill in a description when uploading new videos.

Writing unique and specific descriptions for each video may generate better results.

Set a default description with extra information (like a channel description) that will be automatically added to the description of each video.

See it in action

This video describes some important things to think about for writing good descriptions that aid in discovery and help get people to watch your videos.

Using Hashtags in your video’s description

You can use related hashtags (#) in video descriptions to help viewers find your video when they search for a specific hashtag.

When you upload a video, you can enter hashtags (#hashtag #example) in your video’s title or description. Hashtags in the video description are links that users can click on to go to that hashtag's search results page to see more videos on that subject.

Ensure that you only use hashtags related to your video. For example, if you upload a review of a specific movie do not add hashtags related to different or unrelated popular movies, actors or unrelated topics to falsely increase views.

A little goes a long way -- try not saturate your description section with hashtags. YouTube will ignore all hashtags on a video if it has more than 15 hashtags.

Hashtags are especially great to use with trending content, such as upcoming events or people in the news. This ensures that viewers looking for videos about the trending topic will find a variety of relevant content.

These strategies are suggestions pulled from our experience with YouTube creators and are not promises or guarantees for success.

Advertiser-friendly descriptions

Advertisers can choose to target videos that contain particular terms and keywords in their titles, descriptions, or tags, in order to reach the audiences they value.

Advertisers can also use terms and keywords to opt-out of content that doesn’t align to their brand as well. For example, videos that contain profane, controversial, or sexually suggestive terms (even if they are being used in a comedic, ironic, or otherwise non-offensive context) can result in some advertisers excluding your video from their campaigns. Advertisers also sometimes opt out of keywords that are not controversial, but in their own may not align with their brand or advertising campaign goals.

Tips to ensure advertisers are comfortable with your metadata:

Make accurate titles, tags, and descriptions - Most importantly, metadata should accurately describe the content of your video

Every word matters - Videos that contain profane, controversial, or sexually suggestive terms can result in some advertisers excluding your video from their campaigns.

Words can be taken out of context - Advertisers will often opt out of certain words or phrases - consider how your titles, tags, and descriptions can be interpreted.